News about Wisconsin's Technical Colleges: where we help students find their passion and fulfill their potential while contributing to the health of Wisconsin's economy.

MSTC students share IT knowledge

November 4, 2013

From stevenspointjournal.com: “MSTC students teach public about computers” — While Lori Skerven has a Facebook page, she admits she still has some learning to do when it comes to social media.

On Friday, Skerven, 62, attended the Mid-State Tech Expo, an annual free event held at the Lincoln Center, hoping to learn more about Facebook and computers in general. Information technology students from the college’s Stevens Point campus taught visitors a variety of things, from how to create a password that can help protect against identity theft to how to transfer pictures from a camera to a computer.

Skerven, who said she primarily uses Facebook to see what friends and family members are doing, learned Friday how to comment on Facebook posts by other people.

“I didn’t know it had switched from a button to hitting the return key for posting something,” said Skerven of Mosinee. “My mom is in her 80s and she seems to know more than I do, so I figured I should start learning a little more about it.”

Kathryn Doar, an IT instructor on the MSTC Stevens Point Campus, said, the event typically attracts about 100 people each year. About 28 students from the IT Customer Support Class, which is required for the college’s IT-network specialist and IT-software developer two-year degrees, were on hand to work with expo visitors.

“The students enjoy being a part of this experience because they have the opportunity to come out and work with people, which is going to be a part of their careers going forward,” Doar said.

Rebecca Brubaker, a second-year IT-network specialist student at MSTC, said most people who attend the expo are looking for help on how to get started or how to get past a problem.

“A lot of people who came to talk to me wanted to know how to change their profile picture or post something (on Facebook),” said Brubaker, 28, of Marshfield. “It’s a good experience, and I think it’s good we do it in our second year because you feel a lot more comfortable about what you’re learning, and also being able to explain it to someone else.”